2005-11-03 - ABB has supplied analytical equipment worth over £200k as part of a wider upgrade at a British nuclear power station. The ABB instruments check the water leaving the station’s condensate polishing plant to ensure that it is of sufficiently high quality to re-enter the plant’s water/steam cycle.
About half of all forced outages in modern power plants result from corrosion within the steam turbine loop. This means that reliable, cost-effective power supplies depend heavily on monitoring and maintaining the purity of the water used in the process.
All of the equipment was delivered pre-fitted inside its own dedicated cabin. This approach enables ABB to carry out most of the assembly work off-site, thereby minimising any on-site disruption. Manufactured from glass-reinforced polyester (GRP), the cabin measures 6.5 metres in length by 3.5 metres wide and 2.5 metres high.
The power station’s owner specified that the alarms and wiring to the instruments in the cabin had to be specially designed to accommodate an anticipated future change in the site’s distributed control system.
As an added precaution, the cabin includes a demineralised water manifold, which acts as a buffer that can feed water into any instrument to ensure that the equipment does not run dry in the event of a failure or shutdown of the plant.
Equipment fitted inside the cabin includes sensors and transmitters for the measurement of pH and conductivity, cation conductivity and dissolved oxygen, as well as sodium and silica monitors. Also included are 64 PurgeMaster flow indicators that ensure efficient control of the individual sample lines to the instruments.
Operators are provided with a clear view of process conditions by two of ABB’s large-screen SM3000 multipoint videographic data recorders. Featuring a host of security measures to protect the integrity of recorded data, the SM3000 displays data in a variety of formats, with strip and circular chart, bargraph and process views all included as standard. The clarity of the SM3000’s 12.1” (30cm) backlit colour display means the information can be easily read, even at a distance from the unit.
ABB has over 25 years experience in building packaged system assemblies and can offer a wide choice of standard designs which can be customized to suit individual applications.
Supplied fully pre-manufactured and pre-tested, ABB’s packaged analytical systems are delivered ready for operation. Only connection to samples, drains, power supply and signal outputs is necessary on site.